Mary+Beth+Laychak+LMF

Type in the content of your page here. //View// the assignment page //for a more detailed explanation of this project.

In this exercise, you'll collect data from our database of interviews about fun and learning. Use this template and the data to create 5 generalizations for what you observed. Your generalizations should answer the questions//


 * //What makes learning fun and engaging?//
 * //What are the implications for your own teaching and design work//

3) High school students almost universally reported that physical activity was an element in the experiences they called "fun".//** //Bill W, for example described learning beginning archery skills at boy scout camp. Sallie Forth recalled a social studies class in which "we recreated in chicken wire and paper mache the battlefield at Shiloh and spent several class periods reconstructing the events there." All together there were 24 experiences that took place during high school years and all but 1 included physical activity. In most cases (19 out of 24) these activities also required creative or critical thinking.//
 * //Example:

** What are your 5 generalizations? **
Of the women surveyed, 48% (43 out of 89) of them indicated that their fun learning experience included alot of interaction with other learners. Grandma Ardis recalled her creamics classes and recounted that part of what made that experience fun was visiting with friends she made through the class. Collectively, they wondered about what their works would look like after being fired in the kiln. Jennifer's interaction with other learners also included a level of competition. Her high school Spanish teacher would play Spanish language music videos and the students would have to try and fill in the correct words on a worksheet after watching them. Jennifer not only competed against classmates, but many of them were native Spanish speakers.
 * //1) A higher percentage of women report a high interaction with others component to their "fun" learning experience then men.//**

The men indicated a similar percentage of high interaction with others, 46% (32 out of 70), in their fun learning experiences. Cliff's tale of training how do to mountain Search and Rescue under the tutelage of an ex-army ranger not only involved others, but required those in the group to depend on each other. Ryan's fun learning experience involved learning how to skate board when he was 8. He and his older cousin were at a ramp at the beach. Ryan was one of the youngest kids there and kept falling. His cousin encouraged him to get backup and keep on trying. Eventually, Ryan got the hang of it.

While a higher percentage of women did report a high interaction with others than men, I don't think the difference is actually significant. I think the implication is that for many people, regardless of gender, being part of a group adds to the enjoyment of a learning experience. For some people, it's the competitive aspect of the group dynamic, but for other's it's the encouragement and support they received from the group.


 * //2) Few people describe career related activities are "fun".//**

22 of the 161 //(13.6%) **r**//eported stories were filed under career. This was the lowest percentage of any of the three categories. What I found interesting is that some people, like Scott, a graphic designer, discussed fun learning experiences that lead them to their current career path. Scott was in 11th grade and took a graphic design class. At first the class was boring, but once the teacher took them on a tour of the room, it became more interesting. And once the printing presses started rolling, Scott was hooked. Krista's experience involved her husband's career. She and other Marine spouses were invited to Jane Wayne day at Quantico. They were exposed to martial arts training, the Marine obstacle course, leadership course and M-16 training. She said the experience was very informal and she'd like to do it again. One of the videos I submitted, involved a co-worker of mine, Loic, describing his first experience observing at a large telescope. He's now a professional astronomer who works at a large telescope. He tells the story of learning how to plan an observing run and interact with a telescope operator who spoke only Spanish. By the end of the trip, he had learned all the numbers in Spanish since he had to give all his target coordinates in Spanish.

When planning training or other "career" related activities, the implication from these results is that the designer of the training doesn't always take enjoyment into account. Perhaps if they did, people would enjoy training more. On the other hand, a single career related experience in school can influence students to move towards that career.

//I//nterestingly enough, I was completely wrong about this generality. Of the six experiences rated "very abstract", all six of them were under the age of 40. Of the five rated "somewhat abstract", all five of those were under 40. One of the very abstract experiences came from Asu. She was around twelve years old and learning english as a second language. The teacher broke the students into groups each week and instructed them to write a small play using the vocabulary and grammar rules they learned that week. Asu said these performances gave her confidence in her English speaking abilities Another story rated very abstract was Arvick's story of her love of dancing. Her mother realized that Arvick had a love of dance and arranged for her to dance at school. Arvick loved both the social aspect of dance as well as the social recognition that she achieved through dance.
 * //3) Older participants (40+) describe more abstract activities as "fun" than younger participants (2-39).//**

For me, the biggest implication is that younger learners achieve fun from abstract issues, like dance and theater. I suppose this shouldn't be a surprise, the younger the learner, the more likely they are to have a very active imagination.

Zero of the stories involving children aged 2-9 reported a high level of fantasy, but 2/3 of them (4 out of 6) reported a medium level of fantasy. Terri recalls how Saturdays spent watching sweeping historical epics like the Ten Commandments and Cleopatra captivated her as a child. She quickly realized that she could read historical stories and learn even more about history than she got from the movies. Trevor's fun experience was the one of the only moments he remembered from elementary school. His teacher hid small toys in sand at the playground and taught the kids how to pan for gold. Trevor said in that moment, they all felt like the gold miners of the 1850s.
 * //4) The majority of children (2-9) reported a high level of fantasy in their "fun" activity.//**

The implication of this generalization is very similar to the previous one. Children have fun when they're allowed to use their imaginations while learning. Engaging a child's imagination and sense of fantasy can create a learning experience that lasts them their whole life.

Of the seven experiences where the teacher was rated as "highly intimidating" all seven all rated the teacher as highly enthusiastic. Krystyna recalls her experience of learning to ski in Austria. The instructor was a professional skier. After a few hours of practicing, they were ready to go down very intimidating slopes. The teacher's instructions allowed her to go down the hill successfully. She had so much fun, she went back the next day to take lessons from the same teacher. She enjoyed it so much, that she went to the lessons everyday with the same teacher for her entire 14 day ski trip. Erica told the story of her seventh grade biology class where she assigned to collect bugs, kill them and mount them on foam. As she states, this was not the dream assignment for a seventh grade girl. But she ended up really enjoying the challenge of collecting different kinds of insects and labeling their parts. She even devised a simple way to kill them, jars of bugs in the freezer.
 * //5) A highly intimidating teacher can still provide a "fun" learning experience if they also have a high level of enthusiasm towards the subject.//**

The implication of this generalization is that a high level of enthusiasm can overcome a learner's initial intimidation, whether the teacher or the subject matter is intimidating.